Ice and War
by DemonHuntress
Summary: Half of surviving is hiding, but that seriously gets in the way of living. Starring one of my favorite couples, as rare as they are. R
1. In Which We Set The Scene

Ice and War

By: Cecilia McCoy

Disclaimer: These aren't mine.

Rating: PG-13

Summary: Half of surviving is hiding, but that seriously gets in the way of living.

AN: Why did I choose this couple, you may ask, they're just as common as say Makoto and Wufei. I'll give you the condensed version of my explanation. Heero is the quiet, brooding one who focuses on the mission ahead to give himself a distraction. Ami is the quiet, smart one who buries herself in her studies to reduce the attention she gets. Both hide behind something, and I thought it would be fun to write them a story where they help each other, well, find themselves. So read, enjoy, and review!

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She was a survivor. Or the survivor, however one wanted to look at it. Nevertheless, it was something she had learned at a very early age when she was barely half a century old. First Love was gone; the leader dead in battle she had been forced to take up the position. The other girls wouldn't fit the role, one was too quick to temper, another too quick to violence, and the last was to be protected and not protect as a leader should. They saw so little of the other four that it would have been impossible for them to band together and only one of them to lead. So she had had to assume command and move the group forward without a shred of emotion for fear she would fall apart. She was a survivor.

Then one on the outer ring fell and Water was lost to them forever. Not a hard-fought glorious death in battle but a silent leave in sickness. They were supposed to have been immortal but it seemed that more than war could take them down. They had all come to her for comfort, even the strongest who had lost her loved one. From that day she had become the pillar of support for the rest. The shoulder they could lean on, the rock they could count on. She had taken their feelings, the emotions they gave to her and added them to herself, carrying it all inside her. She was a survivor.

Wind died in a flurry of speed and fire not long after the inner ring celebrated their hundredth birthdays. After her lover's demise she had thrown herself into her sport, taken comfort in its defiance of death until it brought about her own. Now with their nine down to six the two groups allied, pooling their resources but still she remained in charge. She was the rock, it was what she had to do. So when Lightening was gunned down walking with the wrong crowd, she could never let her mast fall, only lead the remaining five forward. She was a survivor.

Ages passed and for a while the rest thought that they might live until better awaited times came. But then Light was taken from them. And killed before they could reach her. Those that were left, Destruction and Time, Fire and Ice, each felt in their heart of hearts that it was their fault personally, but she felt it the most. She was their leader and she had allowed their princess to die. In not being able to move the team fast enough she had sacrificed one of their own. But she couldn't show it, while the others grieved she had to move on. She was a survivor.

Fire was the next to pass. An accident or a murder, no one knew, but one day they found her crumpled at the base of the stairs. Only three left, they held even closer to each other, they stopped fighting all together and laid low. The coldest were the ones to come through, Time, Destruction, and Ice., but it wouldn't be for long. One couldn't take it, too much death had taken its toll on she who ruled it. They were two centuries old, living separate under the same roof, when the city police showed up to tell them that they had found the smallest floating in the river. Facts would say that she had jumped. Accepting with heavy hearts that Destruction was gone, they parted ways, to each her own. Time returned to her gates to guard until the day came that one could take them from her and Ice remained on earth to her own devices. Only the strong survive, and she was a survivor.

Now she lived alone in the city of her birth, in the dark mansion she had once called home. She never met her neighbors, never bothered to introduce herself to the community. She barely ever left her house, in fact the only sign of life was the garbage that appeared once a week on the front stoop to be taken away. If she ever did leave the house it was late at night when the rest of the area was asleep. She made her living with investments, almost always coming out on top. She never associated herself with anything, didn't even pick a side in the intergalactic war with the colonies. Silent and secluded, Ice holed into herself, never wanting to face the world with her failure. So she hid away on her own. She was a survivor?

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starts out pretty dark. review please! 


	2. In Which We Meet The Other Character

Chapter 2

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The war was over and he had almost nothing to do with himself. The others had gone about their own ways, each leaving with barely a good-bye. The Silencer had disappeared first, away to find his homeland and family if they still existed. Shinigami left next, back to America, to the chapel he had come to call his own. China was the destination for the Dragon, back to the martial arts he lived for. With a polite bow the Peacemaker had left for home in Arabia. Leaving the Perfect Solider on his own in his boredom.

Relena had provided him with a large house in England which he had immediately sold. He had then bought an equally large home in Tokyo, believing it to be the last place she would think to look for him. But it had its downsides. Society's high circles never satisfied their thirst for scandal and intrigue and when he would give them nothing they turned their fangs on the woman who lived behind him.

She was an interesting character, it seemed. No one knew when she had moved in. No one knew how old she was or what she did for a living or how she managed to afford a house the size of the one she had. Only a scant few had even seen her, and their reports varied. They all agreed that she wore a thick traveler's cloak on the rare occasions that she left her home, but they couldn't decided what was under that dark gray hood. Some said it was an old hag with long dark hair and more wrinkles than could be counted in a years time. One young man said that she was veritable goddess with gorgeous blonde hair and baby blue eyes. No one would admit it, but they all thought she was a witch. To the Perfect Soldier, she was a challenge.

Unlike with most people, he couldn't find out anything about her. The house was owned by the daughter of a 'Dr. Mizuno' but no first name was given for either the parent or the child. He had to assume that even the name given was false for the change in ownership had been dated at the doctor's death, back in 2030 AD. But the current resident wasn't a squatter, there were no scandals anywhere in any recent newspaper. The water company had nothing on her, neither did the electric company and yet he knew he had seen lights on in the rooms of the house. If she had any computers they were completely hack-safe. As hard as he tried he couldn't find anything on her and it frustrated him to no end.

Then, late one night, his systems alerted him to the fact that she was leaving her house. He had discovered that the only time she ever left was this same night, once a week. She was a creature of habit. So quickly donning a coat, the Perfect Soldier was out his door and across the alleyway to cut off his mysterious neighbor before she could get too far.

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short chapter, i know but it's coming along better. i'm glad you all like it cause it's fun to work on. but seriously, tell me what you think. feedback always makes the author want to write faster.


	3. In Which Our Characters Are Introduced

Chapter 3

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She heard him coming long before he even saw her. There were reasons she allowed fallen tree leaves to cover the once immaculate lawn. Still she made no move to slow down or speed up as she listened to him approach. Instead she pulled her hood tighter over her face and kept up a steady step towards the road she would take. She had to get her grocery shopping done like she did every week and nothing was going to stop her.

But when a hand clamped down on her shoulder she nearly jumped a mile. He had caught up much faster than she had expected him to. "Kon'nichiwa Yui-san," she told him, keeping her face as covered as possible.

The look on his face was priceless as his eyes went wide with shock. "How do you know my name?"

"Just because you know nothing about me does not mean that I know nothing about you. But if you will excuse me, I have grocery shopping to do." She was surprised at how level and authoritative her voice was, considering how long it had been since she had spoken to anyone. How long had it been? The last time Setsuna had visited had been . . . three years ago. And yet her voice had not changed or grown tired with disuse.

It took him less than a second to react. "If you know who I am, it is only fair that I should know who you are."

Her smile was more sly than friendly. "Life isn't fair."

"Omae wo korosu." The words slipped out of habit.

She only laughed. "Please do," she told him, "I have lived too long." He paused, not knowing what to say and she took the opportunity to speak again. "If you can do nothing but stand here and gape I'm afraid I must be going." She turned to leave, but Heero grabbed her arm once again, holding her back. She jerked to a stop so suddenly that her hood fell back and he got a good look at her. Ivory skin even paler against the darkness of her cloak. Hard, cerulean eyes that locked with his own in a battle of will. Long blue hair, streaked with black, held in a loose ponytail that pooled in the bottom of her hood. Though she was not blonde, the boy's description of 'goddess' had not been far from correct.

Her eyes no longer shaded, she finally got to see the fabled Heero Yui that was so interested in knowing about her. His dark brown hair was slightly mussed, long bangs falling askew over his face. Dark eyes of Prussian blue that held her securely where she stood. His face was hard-set and yet strangely handsome. And he had quite obviously not let his personal fitness go to waste after the war was over . . . Yanking her mind back to the here and now, she tried her hardest to level him with her gaze. "I will not ask you again, Yui-san, let go of my arm."

"Who are you."

She didn't reply, merely took his pinky finger in her hand and bent it backwards until he was forced to release his hold. Then pulling her hood back over her face she stalked off down the street. She didn't own a car, hadn't since the twenty-first century because she had never felt the need for one. But now she did as she walked to the store she was followed constantly by Heero who kept calling after her, asking repeatedly who she was. From what little she had found to learn from about the man, this kind of behavior was very out of character for him. Finally growing sick of the endless torment, she whirled around to face him. "Fine, okay? My name is Mizuno Ami. There, you learned what you wanted to know. Will you leave me alone now?" Her words were more of a surprise to her than Heero, that kind of loud outburst was something she had never expected from herself.

He was shocked too. An explosion like that was something he never would have pictured as coming from so small a girl. Or woman. Somehow she was both. Heero just kept walking until he stood right beside her, looking down into her eyes. "Your name is not who you are," he said, his voice surprisingly calm and even.

She smirked. "So now you're a philosopher?"

"Huh."

A sigh. "Okay, okay. If you're going to hang around you might as well make yourself useful. Come on." And that was how he came to carry half her groceries back to her house. "Usually I just borrow a cart and bring it right back," she explained, "They trust me enough to let me do that. But as long as you were tagging along I figured I could put you to good use." Taking the bag from him, Ami put it on the kitchen table and commenced to unpack it. "Ah, take a seat. Pardon me for being such a horrible hostess, but I haven't had guests in, oh, at least a century." The tone in her voice was so unrecognizable he didn't know whether she was kidding or not.

"Not possible." He realized that he had gone back to speaking in as few words as he could.

She didn't care. "Oh, very possible, Yui-san, very possible. But you're one of those technical types who only believes what he sees, aren't you? I've known too much to be like that anymore, but I didn't used to. With me it came from immersing myself in my studies, but I guess that for you it came with all that piloting of the gundam you did, am I correct?"

His response was more than typical. A gun came out, pressed to her temple. "Omae wo korosu."

"You've said that twice now and I have yet to see you make good on that threat."

Heero was speechless for a few moments, but then put the gun away and took a seat like she had asked. "How did you know that?" It was too late to deny it, if he had managed to curb that violent side and not threatened her he could feign innocent and say he knew not of which she spoke. So now all he could do was find out as much about her as he could.

Another smirk was the initial response. "I've done my research."

"And why do you claim to have lived for a century?"

This time she sighed. "More than just 'a' century, Yui-san. I inherited this house from my mother in 2030. Didn't start to use it until about the beginning of the fourth millennium, though. I've had it since the colonies were first created and before. I'm immortal, and at the rate at which I spend, my money's going to outlive me."

He was confused. "Why do you offer this to me freely." Even thought he wasn't one to look a gift horse in the mouth . . . 

A laugh. "You don't tell your own secrets. What could you gain from telling mine. Besides, it's not like any one would believe you. You're what these people like to call 'new money,' while the Mizuno's have been around for longer than any one else here. So whose word are they going to take, mine or yours?"

"Yours."

She grinned. "He can be taught." Then turning her back on him, she began to make an early breakfast for them both, whether he wanted one or not. It was only polite, and polite was how she's been raised and damned if she was going to lose it now. Silence hung between them, the unasked question thick in the air. Finally, Ami sighed again and spoke. "You want to know why I'm immortal." He nodded, not speaking a word, and she came to sit across from him at the table as she placed a bowl of cereal in front of him, keeping one for herself. "Now that I'm thinking about how to phrase this, it sounds crazier and crazier. I don't think you'd ever believe that I'm a sailor senshi."

Very uncharacteristically, Heero sputtered, almost choking on his food. "They died out back in the twenty-sixth century!"

"We stopped fighting, yes, but we didn't die out. Not all of us. I'm the only one still here, but I'm here."

He looked at her, closer than before, really looked at her. She had taken off that huge traveler's cloak and in the light he got an even better look at her face. His computer had information on everything, including a good section on the fabled sailor senshi. Bored one day, he had practically memorized it. This girl, this Mizuno Ami, did in fact bear an uncanny resemblance to the one called Sailor Mercury, could it be? . . . "Prove it."

A quick smile and she nodded. "I expected as much." Then with a wink she closed her eyes and held out her hands in front of her. Her lips barely moved as she whispered a soft command and ice spiraled from her out-stretched fingertips, twisting and turning in the air until it had formed a crystal symbol of Mercury.

His jaw almost dropped. "Don't you have to transform to do that?"

"Ah, you have done your homework." She grinned again, it was beginning to infuriate him. "It's very simple, really. I never de-henshined."

He had nothing to say to that, it was, after all, a reasonable answer. But something else had been bothering him. "Mizuno-san, you said you were the only one left-"

Ami sighed. "You really must listen more closely. I said I was the only one left ~here~. Pluto-chan is still at the time gates."

Heero digested the information. "What happened to the other seven?"

He was not in the least bit prepared for her response. Silence reigned for a few moments as she swallowed another bite of cereal, focused on the table. But when she looked up at him he wished her gaze had never left the wood. Eyes like steel fixed him in place where he sat, their complete lack of emotion chilling him to the marrow. Her words, when she spoke, were calm and steady, her voice never wavering. "Yui-san," she told him very carefully, "I do believe that you have worn out your welcome."

And that was how they met.

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oh, i am ~so~ having fun with this. sorry if heero is a little OOC, he's hard to write if you're actually trying to give him a personality. and one more thing, i do not speak japanese. as in, at all. so all of my '-san's and '-chan's will be so incredibly messed up you won't believe it possible. but you like it so far? review!

and does anyone on know haruka, michiru, hotaru, and setsuna's last names?


	4. In Which Things Come To A Head

Chapter 4

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The next week, on the same day and at the same time, he caught up with her again. And once more he carried half her groceries home and they sat and talked in her kitchen over a bowl of cereal. Over the past week he had thought up many questions he wanted to ask her about the long life she had lived but one was the most pressing of all. "Do you have no computers here?"

In response, she snapped her fingers and a mini computer fell out of the air into her hand. "Does that answer your question?

"How . . . ."

Ami sighed. "Space pocket. Crossing dimensions is a latent senshi power we each had, used only as temporary storage for our transformation pens, or for the MDC, the Mercury Data Computer. I open a miniature portal into a side dimension in which I can store basically whatever I want. It hangs suspended until I come back for it." She set it on the table in front of him. "I bet you tried to hack it from your house, but that's impossible. It's not hooked into any systems so you could only crack into it if you had it open in front of you. Which, unless you're me, is just as impossible."

Refusing to admit that, Heero wrestled with the tiny thing, about to resort to using a gun. "What makes you say that?"

With a deep breath, she took it from him and keyed in a combination from a hidden button pad on the bottom. In a mechanical voice it asked for a retinal scan and she leaned down to look into a small lens. She then put her thumb against a sensor that not only scanned her fingerprint, but did a quick DNA and blood sample. "It can tell real skin versus fake, so it's no use pulling a Gataca."1

"'Gataca?'"

"Twentieth century movie, I doubt you would understand. It wasn't that good anyway." He was obviously not getting what she was talking about so she went back to the original subject. "But you can't open it unless you're me. You can't turn it on without a password," she left out the part about needing a scan from the opposite fingerprint, "It needs a password to access the main programs. Each file has a separate password unless you know the one that overrides them all in the beginning. I put all the coding in myself not long ago. But you can't even attempt any of those unless you get it out of the space pocket, which only Pluto-chan and I can do. So good luck hacking it." She shut it once again and dropped it away.

Heero's jaw almost hit the floor and he uttered the one word he never had before. "Wow."

He came by the next week, and the week after that, until groceries and cereal became a regular occurrence for them both. One day, however, sitting across the table and chatting aimlessly, Ami noticed something different about her guest. "Is everything all right?" she asked flippantly, "You look grumpier than usual."

There was a long pause in the conversation. Heero kept his gaze on the cereal he continued to shovel into his mouth, not knowing how to phrase what he wanted to say. Had to say, really, it wasn't something he wanted to admit because that would make it real. Then, finally, he spoke. "I got a transmission from one of my ex-teammates the other day," he told her, "He told me the people responsible had been caught, but there had been a terrorist bombing in China. An old friend of mine was killed. Chang Wufei." He surprised himself, letting himself know that he had any friends at all, let alone the Chinese pilot.

"Oh," was Ami's response and for a moment he had stunned her speechless. Her having nothing to say was about as frequent as the same thing happening to Duo. Now that he really thought about it, Heero realized, she was a lot like Duo. Same smart aleck attitude, same joking defense, same mischievous eyes . . . no, scratch that. Her eyes were almost a carbon copy of his own. Hard and unfeeling, but she carried it off differently. So caught up in his thoughts he almost missed what she said next. "I think I know how you feel."

Somehow that hit something off inside of him. "How could you know," he said coldly, forgetting momentarily that she had lost seven of the people closest to her, "How could you know how it feels to lose someone who was there for you, who stood by you and kept you anchored to sanity through a war? Wufei was the Dragon! He was unbeatable, invincible, he wasn't supposed to die. Not like that."

Her eyes went wide at his words. "So I don't know how it feels to have a friend killed in a random act of violence? Makoto was our dragon. No matter how hard the battle was she was strong, she was invulnerable. Guess what happened to her? She fell in with a different crowd and got gunned down in a fly-by shooting on the wrong side of town! And you tell me I don't know how it feels. Fuck you."

It completely caught him by surprise. As little as he had expected his outburst, he had expected hers even less. Feelings in the two previously emotionless creatures had flared up and come to a head, and neither of them knew what to do. Ami was still glaring at him, eyes narrowed in rage but behind them he saw an agony he recognized all to well. She was replaying the death of her friend, just as he always replayed the death of that little girl and her dog. But he wasn't going to back down and neither was she. The first time she had told him to leave her home her voice had been level, never wavering. Now it shook with every word. "Get. Out. Of. My. House."

"Look, Mizuno-san . . . "

"Out."

Heero looked at her for the last time that night and saw the real reason why Sailor Mercury had been made the leader after the death of Venus. Her eyes seemed to ice over, their cerulean hues freezing solid with pure rage. Everything in the kitchen ground to a halt as the temperature plummeted and froze it all. Raw power cackled like lightening in the air around her and chill winds whipped through the room, returning to its source only to be churned back out again. Facing the true wrath of a goddess, he did the one thing he could do. He left.

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sorry but that was pathetic. reviews anyways? and thanks to all my readers, i think i'm forming a following!

and fuzzy pink bouncy bunny, i gotta love creativity when it comes to pen names. 

1) 'pulling a Gataca': it's a phrase I coined myself. In the movie he uses a false fingertip filled with the appropriate blood to get into work. She's saying that someone couldn't pull the same trick.


	5. In Which Much Duo-Bashing Is Done

Chapter 5

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For the next ten hours Ami could not sleep. The encounter with Heero left her mind reeling and replaying the deaths of her friends. Venus, Neptune, Uranus, Jupiter, Moon, Mars, Saturn. Each of them tormented her in her mind's eye until they nearly drove her insane. In the morning, after getting no sleep at all, she changed clothes, pulled on her old cloak, and for the first time she was the one to cross the alleyway. 

She didn't cross through Heero's yard, she knew him better than that. She would have ended up tripping some alarm and getting herself shot. So she walked across the yard two houses down and took the tradition sidewalk to his home. At the doorstep she paused, unsure of what she was going to say. Only one phrase sprang to mind. '_Carpe diem_.' 'Seize the day.' So throwing caution to the winds she stood as tall as her five foot two inches would allow and knocked as soundly as she could.

The face that answered the door was one she did not recognize. Handsome was the mature was to describe him, but the teenage inside her screamed, 'Absolutely gorgeous!' His eyes were so blue they seemed violet, mischief and mirth dancing in the sunlight. A long brown braid trailed behind him. He had a wide grin, almost boyish in its innocence. "Hey, cutie, who are you?"

"I'm sorry," she told him, falling back on formality, "I did not realized Yui-san had a housemate. Is he in."

He laughed. "We don't live here, we're just visiting for a while. Sorta reunion, almost. But yea, the Hee-man's here. Come on in." He held the door open wider and she stepped in, clearing out of the way as he shut the door behind her. "Hey, Heero! Some chick's here to see you!" She winced, completely unprepared for the bellowing voice from the young man.

"Then tell her to leave."

The guy downstairs raised an eyebrow. "You sure about that? She's really hot."

Ami blushed, but took the situation on herself. "Yui-san, it's me."

There was a long pause from upstairs, which was where Heero's voice had come from. Then a long sigh echoed through and he stepped into view. Ami's eyes nearly bugged out of her head. He had obviously just woken up and hadn't quite taken the time to put on a shirt, giving her an eyeful of his chest. Her blush darkened and she looked away, she was still innocent Mizuno Ami after all. Heero just shrugged it off. "I'll be down in a minute, Mizuno-san. Duo, don't torment her too badly. Introduce her to Quatre and Trowa." He ducked into his room, only to reappear a moment later. "Oh, and she knows about us and Wufei. So don't bother trying to hide it."

Duo, for that's what his name was, let his jaw drop practically to the floor. "What the fuck . . . never mind. I just, never mind, come on." He led her into another room and she got a scope of just how big the house was. Truthfully it wasn't that much larger than her own, but much more beautifully furnished. The woodwork was gorgeous, the furniture suited the rooms perfectly and nothing seemed as oversized or overdone as many expensive houses tended to. The room he led her too seemed to be a relaxed living room of sorts, with several armchairs and the like spread out around two small coffee tables. Two men sat in the room, each about the same age as Duo and Heero. One was blonde, with wide blue eyes and the other was brunette, with his hair falling to cover half his face and hide one green eye. "Quatre and Trowa," Duo introduced. 

The blonde stood and walked over to her, bowing politely. "Pleased to met you, ma'am. I'm Quatre Reberba Winner. My friend sitting behind me is Trowa Barton, he doesn't speak much." He gestured to the brunette who merely waved slightly but didn't bother to stand. "Pardon me for asking," Quatre spoke up once more, "But how do you know Heero?"

Ami smiled, returning the gesture of politeness. "We met a few weeks ago, I live just across the alley."

Duo gaped once more. It seemed to be a regular occurrence for him. "Damn, no wonder Heero never told us he was here. He waned to keep his babe of a neighbor all to himself!"

"That will be enough, Maxwell." Heero had finished getting dressed and come down stairs. He was now leaning against the doorframe, arms folded across his chest and one ankle crossed over the other. He switched his gaze from the long-haired boy to Ami. "You wanted to see me?"

She shrugged and nodded at the same time. "Just to talk." Damn if she was going to apologize and spill in front of three other people.

"Then talk."

Or maybe she would have to. He'd had his pride hurt, now it was her turn. "I needed to say sorry for being such a bitch last night-"

"'Last night?'" Duo echoed lewdly, "Heero, you naughty boy you."

Heero's eyes narrowed. "Duo," he said with a threatening tone to his voice, "Do I even need to say it?"

The other man gulped. "You're gonna kill me. I already know. This is the part where I grin, duck, and run. Got it. Gone." Although he didn't disappear, he did shut up.

Ami turned to Heero. "And I wanted to say something else. Privately." Duo opened his mouth to say something but was cut off by angry glares from the rest of the room. Grumbling, he retreated and she continued. "Something along the lines of what we were talking about." She paused. "I assume that the 'sorta reunion' Duo spoke of deals with your piloting histories?"

Heero shook his head. "More of a private remembrance, but partly also a chance for us to get together again."

"Ah. Gomen nasi, Yui-san, if I'm intruding, I could leave-"

Duo interrupted her again. "Hell no, babe. You can stay. You might not have known the Wu-man, but you have to have known someone like him."

She nodded. "Three someone's."

Quatre's eyes went wide. "Has Heero already told you about Wufei?"

Another nod. "I got the gist of it. Temperamental, strong, a fighter?"

All four men agreed with her and she, Heero, Duo, and Quatre each took a seat in a different chair around the same table near Trowa. Ami hung to the back as they swapped stories about their old friend, watching how each of them reacted to the death. Sweet Quatre burst into tears early on, burying his face in his hands as he tried to control his hiccuping sobs. Trowa only spoke when spoken to and spent most of his time comforting his blonde friend while keeping himself from crying. Heero, however, was stoic as always, impassive and unemotional. He told his stories in an unmoving voice and never let his life-hardened eyes fall. Ami then realized that the emotion he had when he had yelled at her the previous night was the first he had shown in a long time. But Duo was the one her heart went out for. According to his stories, he and Wufei had had a very argument-related relationship but had still been very close friends. And yet he hid his grief behind the jokes he cracked as he tired his hardest to mask the anguish and keep his friends from worrying. 

Finally it was her turn to speak. "You said you knew some people like Wu-man," Duo said, trying to keep his voice from choking, "You wanna tell us about them?"

Ami shook her head and would not meet their eyes. "You all seem like nice guys, but you're complete strangers to me. It must have taken a lot for you to open up with me here, but I don't think I can return the favor." She refused to let her voice waver when she spoke. "I haven't spoke to anyone about Rei-chan or Haruka-san, and only a little about Mako-chan. I don't think I could start in front of a group of people I don't at all know. Gomen nasi."

Quatre smiled politely. "It's ok, Miss Mizuno, we understand." The other three did nothing but he knew they agreed. "But," Quatre stood, "I just flew in this morning and as much as I hate it, jet-lag is catching up with me. It's not long after midnight my time. I will be going back to bed if you will excuse me." He bowed once and was gone.

Duo stood as well. "The fourteen-hour difference puts my body at mid-afternoon, so I'm gonna go babe-watching in the city. Thanks for letting us get the depressing part out of the way, Hee-man!" With a playful wink he disappeared out the front door, slamming it shut behind him. Trowa, silent as always, excused himself and noiselessly took the stairs up to his room. Leaving Ami and Heero by themselves.

"You wanted to talk to me?" He was as blunt as usual.

Slowly, very slowly, she nodded. "Yeah." Her voice was a whisper and when he made no further comments or inquiries she took it upon herself to explain. "Pluto-chan and I, we never talk about what happened and I tried to forget, but our . . . fight brought it all back. I realized that even the leader, the strongest of the group needs a rock to hold onto. Do you understand what I mean?"

He nodded silently.

Ami sunk further into her chair, chin in her hands. "You keep everything bottled up inside you. I know that, I've done it myself. But after thousands of years of never letting anything go? At first I made myself go numb. For the team, I said, do it for the team and after this has passed you can let it all out. That's what I said when Venus-chan died. But then Neptune-chan followed, and Uranus-san, and the others. I always said that I would let it all out when it had passed, but it never did. After Saturn-chan died and Pluto-chan went back to her gates, I had no one to talk to. Until you started stalking me."

"I never stalked you." Heero's brow furrowed at the accusation.

She laughed. "You searched for my past. You hacked electrical and water companies to get any records on my house. You spied on me for weeks at a time. I'd have to say you stalked me." With another deep sigh, she settled down in the chair, arms over her chest and head bowed. "If I told it all to you, would you mind?" He gave no response, only pulled his chair closer to hers, intent on listening.

And so she told him.

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i liked most of this chapter but not all, tell me what you think!


	6. In Which A Sequel Is Promised

Chapter 6

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She started where every tale should start, at the beginning. The formation of the scouts, first Sailor Moon, then herself, Mars, Jupiter, and finally Venus. About meeting up with Tuxedo Kamen, Chibi Usa and the Outers. Learning everything about their past and nothing about their future from Pluto. She gave him a brief overview of the enemies they had fought time after time. Prince Diamond and his entourage, the Four Sisters, the Amazon Quartet, Beryl, Metallica, Galaxia, and the dozens upon hundreds of youma they had dusted. 

And then she started to tell him about their deaths. It was the hardest part for her, she had never spoken of it to anyone and now she was spilling it all in one sitting.

It started with Venus. Minako. Their field leader and inspiration. She was struck from behind while shielding the injured Jupiter. It was something that would haunt Makoto for the rest of her life. Then Michiru died. She had been like a sister to Ami. They shared a common element, a mutual love for swimming, appreciation for music, and incredible intelligence. She had always blamed herself for Neptune's death, she should have found some cure and yet she didn't. Than Haruka in a car crash. Makoto, she had already told him, let her guilt consume her and hung out where she shouldn't have. She shouldn't have been killed, she was just in the wrong place in the wrong time. And it cost her her life. Usagi's death was another she blamed herself for, not getting there fast enough to save her princess. Mamoru faded into the shadows with his bunny gone, and Chibi Usa ceased to exist. Then Rei fell down the stairs, though Ami had always suspected that Yuuichirou pushed her when he found out she was in love with Jadeite, and not him. And then the firefly, Hotaru, and the river . . . Ami almost broke into tears just thinking about it.

It took her three hours to tell her tale, three hours without a pause or gap or break. When she finally finished she would not look him in the eye, rather she stared at her hands clasped in her lap. Heero was the first to break the silence in his usual way, blunt and monotonous. "Are you going to cry?"

She shook her head. "Not. Now maybe later."

"Why?"

A laugh. Weak and forced, but a laugh. "I outgrew crying in front of others millennia ago."

"You used to?"

A nod. "When I was young."

"Young being . . .?"

"Thirteen. Fourteen. Around then. Like I said, when I was young."

"Ah."

There was another silence, one again broken by Heero. "So this 'Mako-chan' was Sailor Jupiter?"

She nodded again. "We all released our identities only a few years after Venus died but no one really seemed to care. All anyone cared about was that we saved Tokyo, the world, and possibly the universe, on several occasions. And they're dead. I don't think they would care is I told you who they are . . . were." Ami smiled, forcing light back into her eyes. "Sailor Moon was the actress Tuskino Usagi, her boyfriend Chiba Mamoru was Tuxedo Kamen. The model Aino Minako was Sailor Venus, and Jupiter as I told you was the world-famous cook Kino Makoto. Hino Rei was a Shinto priestess and Sailor Mars. The racecar driver Ten'oe Haruka was Sailor Uranus, Neptune was the violinist Ten'oe Michiru. Tomoe Hotaru always looked too young to have a job so she was Sailor Saturn full time, and Meioh Setsuna was at her time gates as when she wasn't fighting with us as Sailor Pluto."

"And you?" he asked.

Ami smiled. "I took being leader a little more seriously than Mina-chan, I never took a different job. But up until she died I was a doctor. A pediatrician in Germany. I've always adored children and helping people was my dream." She knew she was grinning like an idiot as she stared off into space, eyes dancing as she rested her chin on her hands. It had been a finally-accomplished dream . . . taken from her all too soon.

"You liked it that much?"

"My, aren't we full of questions today?" she kidded him. "But yeah, I did. It was my passion. I loved it more than studying or swimming or even, no scratch that." She smirked, getting an almost lewd look in her eye. "I loved my Zoisite more."

His eyebrows shot up. This was the first time she had spoken of a man in her life. "Who?"

She looked over at him, eyes still dancing. "Jealous Heero?" she teased but quickly sobered. "Zoisite was originally just one of Endymion's generals, back in the Silver Millennium but somehow they got transported to the future, with us. Well, after several centuries of dancing around each other and desperately trying to hate the other Mina somehow tricked us into admitting love and that was all it took. We were almost married but another portal showed up bringing with it another Zoisite and Nelphrite. The two Zoisite's and the Nelphrite's cancelled each other out and a paradox collapsed. As much as I screamed, Setsuna-chan never explained it fully to me. But," she sighed deeply, "That's a quick summary of who Zoisite was. The expanded version takes up three volumes."

"Seriously?"

Ami almost burst out laughing and his, well, naivete. "No, it's just much longer. Now I think it's my turn for questions."

Heero gulped, then said the one thing he could. "Shoot."

"How involved were you and Miss Peacecraft?"

He had to laugh. It was the only reaction he could have to the question. "Not it the least bit," he finally told her, "I moved here to get away from her. She was this clingy little thing in pink who thought I loved her. I threatened to kill her every time I got the chance and she only batted those hideously fake eyelashes all the more. So no, to answer your question, no we were not involved. No matter what she might have posted all over the news-"

"I don't get the news."

"Right. Anything she said about us was a lie. I avoid the woman as much as possible."

She bit down a laugh, then looked at her watch in surprise. "I'd better go, it's getting late-"

This time it was her who cut her off, taking hold of her arm. "No wait, it's almost lunchtime. You want to go get a cup of coffee or something?"

An inquisitive look was his first answer. "What for?"

His face broke into a wide, kind grin. An expression she doubted many people had ever seen before, if anyone. And when he spoke his tone of voice was playful, if not flirting. She just about melted under the influence of his smile. "Well I would say for me to get to know you better but I already know you pretty well. So I guess it's just a chance for you to get to know me better."

The grin she returned was just as mischievous. "In that case," she whispered, "How could I say no?" And with a playful wink she stood, linking her arm through his, and they walked out the door together. He knew her past, she knew his, and it just might take the both of them to pull each other out of their respective hiding places. But they had plenty of time to work on it.

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major heero OOCness. oops. i don't read the series or watch the movie (but i have seen endless waltz) i did say 'in which a sequel is promised', no? which means that there will be a sequel. but i need some help. it will deal a lot with alternate realities and i can't think those up all on my own.

This story might not have been a romance but the next one will. it takes place a year or two later, ami and heero are in love. but someone who controls time and space is after ami so the two of them go reality jumping to get away from him/her. i need reality ideas. so review and submit!

-DemonHuntress


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